Matt Masters

HI,

I’m Matt Masters and I’m very excited to be the newest member of the CKUA team. He’s my brief backstory…..

I grew up in downtown Calgary and got interested in music in high school. I was fortunate to have a group of buddies who were equally interested in music and so, by my early 20s I was putting on shows and performing my own songs. I finished a history degree at the University of Calgary before heading off to Toronto in 2002. I spent two years there, working at the Toronto Blues Society and gigging regularly, but by the end of 2004 I knew it was my time to hit the road, so I bought a van and started touring.

The 2005 Alberta Centennial saw me play 100 Alberta communities in 120 days and kick-started my full-time career as a performing musician. Since then I’ve played over 1,300 shows in ten different countries, performed alongside some of my musical heroes, run festivals, acted in films, booked music venues, written a play, spent a season as the house band for the Calgary Flames, sung on horseback at the Calgary Stampede, helped re-write a bylaw and become active in the Music Cities movement.

My favourite musical time of year is November, because that’s when I go on tour with Barney Bentall and the Cariboo Express. I’ve been a member of that band for 12 years now and I’m very proud of the work we do raising funds to help western Canadian charities.

My wife Amanda plays flute in the Calgary Wind Symphony and we have three little kids, Nora, Charles and Martin.

When I’m not playing or listening to music, I like to play hockey, soccer and ride my bike. My favourite guitars are my 1962 J-45 and my 1966 B-25-N and I have way too many vintage cowboy shirts.